Hewlett Packard iPAQ h5555 Pocket PC

Pros: Large memory, large battery, bluetooth _and_ wireless, old expansion packs fit, bright screen
Cons: A few design flaws and glitches

First a rundown of the major specs for this unit: 400mhz XScale Processor 128mb of RAM and 48mb of ROM 3.8 Color TFT screen SDIO Wi-Fi 802.11b and Bluetooth 5.2" x 3.3" x 0.6" 7.3 ounces Fingerprint reader IR port (not CIR) The only ...

Pros: Fast Processor, Beautiful Big Screen, Built-In Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Windows Mobile 2003
Cons: Hefty Price of $649, Wi-Fi Consumes Power

I'm a 23 year old engineering student whose main interest is cars and PDA's, and this is the mother of all PDA's. I began my first experience with PDA's (which I believe stands for Personal Digital Assistant) back in 1998 when the Palm III came out and ...

Pros: Full featured, works well at first.
Cons: Doesn't work after it matures.

Love this machine when it works. Unfortunately, it doesn't love me. My first one had a dead spot on the touch sensitive screen. I was sent a refurbished model, which was unable to go wireless upon arrival, so I was sent another refurbished model. This ...

Pros: size, backlight, fast, versatile, entertaining, wireless, internet browsing
Cons: battery life on wireless, lack of freeware, screen calibration and contamination

I have owned this unit a little more than a year. The reason I like this Pocket PC is that is truly a PC. It is more powerful than my last laptop and more powerful than my second to last desktop. I can run Excel which is great and I use that a ...

Pros: wireless internet, looks, comfort
Cons: Price, feel for left hand users

Before September 2003 i had in my possesion a plam tungstem T2 (see my review), which i found ok for a basic user, but after an unfortunate meeting with a man in an alley i was left without one! Therefore i needed a replacement, i had £600 (sounds over ...

Pros: Great battery life. Awesome wireless. Great color display. Nice case.
Cons: It will soon be outdated. Screen is much too bright and affects some games.

This Ipaq is in league with many small laptops by ibm's thinkpad standards. With 128 MB SD-RAM and a 400 mhz processor it's catching up with my win2k machine. The tech specs are all here, but what about actual usability information. - This pda can ...

Pros: 802.11B WiFi Adapter, Bright Color Screen
Cons: Battery, Pocket PC is clunky OS, poor documentation

I received the HP 5555 as my TAP Replacement (CompUSA's Technical Assurance Program, I don't buy warranties, but I do buy replacement plans) for an older Jornada. I was most interested in the 802.11b interface. Since then I've not let go of my new toy, my job as a Network Admin can be entirely done on this little gadget. I have a 5250 emulator to work on telnet servers, and the Microsoft tool for Remote Desktop allows all the Win2003 Server administration you could desire. If you ever need to respond to a tech call without getting back to the server room this is the key. The OS is still lacking, then again it's Microsoft, but function over form still gets the job done.

Pros: Finger print works. Reasonable wifi and blue tooth. It has typical windows ?reliability.
Cons: Mostly the side switches break too easy. Battery life is acceptable.

I have had my h5555 for 1 1/2 years and have had problems with it charging and then it complained about not being able to do something with the pim agent. There was no help in the help file on the pim agent and therefore there was no way to figure out what to fix. The buttons on the side stopped working after a while and then locked up in the voice record mode and when I took it back to the place where I bought it for a "no hassle replacement" they hassled me and wouldn't replace it because they no longer carry it although it is still available from HP. I went to office depot and they had one on display and it was at the old price. The fingerprint recognition worked OK but not on larger fingers. Would buy another one but I am not really sure if I would buy off of ebay as the side buttons are easily destroyed. It isn't compatible with OS x Mac either. I like to use it for bible reference as it works good for that.

Pros: Wireless Lan, Screen, back light, Usefulness
Cons: Finger Print scanner not really useful, No compact flash slot

When I saw that Compaq had merged with HP I was worried. When I saw that Compaq's Ipaq was now made by HP I was scared. But I decided to give it a chance to prove it's self. Boy was I glad I did. The screen quilty is amazing. The back light is very well done. Speed is great. I can run everything from picture viewing software to fun games without a problem. The touch screen is very responsive. I was sad to see that there was no compact flash card slot but after trying the new Secure Data cards I am less sad. As will all Hp products it Syncs easily with outlook which is included in the software package it ships with. Overall I suggest anyone that is looking for a higher end PDA.

Pros: Good design. Easy to use because of Windows format.
Cons: One thing after another has gone wrong.

My husband purchased my first Compaq IPAQ just over two years ago--thank goodness he also purchased a three year service warranty. After 6 months with machine #1, the battery simply stopped working. I was told the main battery replacements were so expensive they just replaced the machine. This was the HP5555. I hoped that HP would help Compaq work out some of the quirks (i.e. short battery life.) Unfortunately, the main battery drained on this one as well; it also had very loose function buttons that popped out of their slots. Third machine, I noticed a purple hue on the monitor. It would also spontaneously turn itself off every time I tried to turn it on. Fourth, its main battery died after I had not charged it for two days. I called in technical support and their comment was, "Oh yeah, these are great machines, but they have so many problems." I only wish I had known that before losing my midterm notes. For $650.00, I would expect a machine with much more quality control. I'd like to stay in the Pocket PC format...maybe I'll try a Toshiba.

Pros: Broad features
Cons: High-cost maintenance

I bought the IPAQ h5555 in mid-March 2004. The end of August, when I was still using the h5555 just lightly, it wouldn't take an AC charge, and under the warranty it went for repair. HP had to virtually rebuild the entire unit's inners. I was warned I could never let the detachable battery drop below 50 % or it would become damaged.

Mid-2/05 I began to use the h5555 much more heavily. Less than three weeks after it went out of warranty, it stopped taking an AC charge, even though since the August 2004 warning, I had never let the h5555 battery drop below 50 %.

The h5555 may look nice, have lots of nice features...but HP lost sight of what its customers want most from a PDA: reliability! I paid for reliability, and I didn't get it!

I still own a Jornada 540i series. As old as it is, it works more reliably than the h5555! How can anyone appreciate expanded features from earlier HP PDA models, when the newer PDA model keeps breaking?

Pros: Biometric Fingerprint/Large Screen/Accurate Transcriber/Wireless LAN & Bluetooth
Cons: Short Battery Life

This PDA is absolutely amazing. The biorietric fingerprint feature is truly impressive and accurate. I couldn't ask for more features and user-friendliness in one device. I have just upgraded from the HP iPAQ H4150, which was also a great machine, but is dwarfed in comparison to the H5555. I am the CEO and Chairman of a commercial web design corporation, and have a multitude of experience with technology, particularly HP PDA's - and this is the mother of all PDA's. I have mastered this device, and you may contact me, should you have any questions. My private email is: robert_lipford@yahoo.com

Robert D Lipford, CEO
Lipford International Acquisitions

Pros: Reliable, durable(passed the drop test - dohh!)belt clip hides under your suit jacket, good quality.
Cons: Battery Life!, intermittent connection problems, lack of voice memo button

I purchased my H555 about two years ago. I had to replace a stolen IPAQ so I decided to go all out. I use bluetooth at home for remote printing and wireless for internet access so I assumed this would be a perfect fit. And it is for the most part. The only complaints I have are the following:

1. (At the Time) Limited resources for their brand new IPAQ and operating system. This has since been resolved.
2. Very limited battery life. No Bluetooth and wireless and it goes dead in five days. With BT or WiFi about 48hrs.
3. I have to hard boot every once in a while for no apparent reason.

Belt clip is nice, volume control is nice, overall good quality and reliability.

Pros: best design and screen is wonderful. Memory and installed programs are quite good
Cons: service is awful - they have no answers

the overall design is great. If you can force it into the landscape format with third party softwear the H5555 is the top. However, I purchased the HP Slim keyboard and it is just awful. They need to revise the driver. You never know if it will work. The keyboard which fits on the bottom of the IPAQ does not work well with the supplied cradle. You can't use the keyboard if you plug the charger into the bottom of the keyboard.
HP service people are happy to help you but they are untrained and do not have any answers except soft reboot - hard reboot and reload the programs. Also remove and replace the battery. only the last may work sometimes.